Ohio State-Purdue report card

Showing how much faith he has in the front five, Urban Meyer went for it on fourth-and-one from the Purdue 46-yard line in the first quarter - at the risk of making his shaky defense defend a short field. Carlos Hyde blasted off left tackle for 20 yards. But that was the highlight - until the final, crazy minute of regulation. Braxton Miller never found running room before getting hurt and tight end Jeff Heuerman got flagged for an illegal block in the end zone, resulting in a safety that padded Purdue's fourth-quarter lead to 22-14. Heuerman would atone with the 2-point conversion catch that sent the game to overtime.

Running Game C

Running Game C

Part of Braxton Miller's problems early was he fumbled away a shotgun snap at the Purdue 41. He had another fumble in the second half, but his best play also was his worst - a 37-yard scramble that ended with him knocked out of the game at the end of the third quarter. The good news is Miller passed all of the concussion tests at the hospital and was declared "symptom free." Carlos Hyde ran hard again with 91 yards on 19 carries and scored two touchdowns, including the game-winner.

Passing Game B

Kenny Guiton, playing in the fourth quarter because of an injury to Braxton Miller, was remarkably poised in waiting for Heuerman to break open for the game-tying 2-point conversion. That almost overshadowed Guiton's TD pass to Chris Fields on the previous play. Fields, who entered the game with zero catches this season, had a big second half after having a pass clank off his fingers to open the third quarter. His 35-yard catch set up the Buckeyes' second TD. Before getting hurt, Miller was having one of his worst games as a passer and the enigmatic Devin Smith wasn't much help until he made the game-tying TD possible with a clutch 39-yard catch.

Defensive Line B-

Nathan Williams was back after sitting out the Indiana game and immediately improved Ohio State's pass rush, although the Buckeyes again finished without a sack. John Simon and Johnathan Hankins had nine and eight tackles, respectively, with Simon and freshman Noah Spence applying the heat that forced a bad throw out of the end zone by Caleb TerBush on the final play of the game.

Linebackers C

Linebackers C

The Buckeyes got burned on the first play of the game, a wheel route for 87 yards with running back Akeem Shavers leaving Storm Klein trying in vain to chase him down. The "D" only was responsible for 13 points, but it still was maddeningly inconsistent. Both Purdue touchdowns were of 30-plus yards and the Boilermakers also had a 10-minute, 19-play drive. Fortunately, it ended in an interception, but it doesn't excuse away the nearly 10-minute edge in time of possession for the visitors. Ryan Shazier had a team-high 12 tackles.

Defensive Backs C

C.J. Barnett had an end zone interception off a deflection by Ryan Shazier and made a big hit to force an incompletion on Purdue's first play of OT, but the tackling - overall - was sloppy. Caleb TerBush threw for 230 yards and the Buckeyes probably were fortunate the Boilermakers didn't test them more by throwing downfield. Cornerbacks Bradley Roby and Travis Howard were unusually quiet.

Special Teams C

Special Teams C

Where were the "piranhas" on that 100-yard kickoff return by Akeem Hunt? Even kicker Drew Basil, who has saved the Buckeyes with five tackles this season, got turned around twice on that return. The Boilermakers, figuring they had nothing to lose after back-to-back embarrassing losses, even made a fake punt from their own 18-yard line look easy. Fortunately, Garrett Goebel blocked the PAT after Purdue's opening TD and Johnathan Hankins blocked a 34-yard field goal. Urban Meyer now is 19-0 since 2005 when one of his teams blocks a punt. The left upright blocked Basil's 50-yard field goal attempt. All the bad stuff that happened was forgotten when Heuerman score on the 2-point conversion.

Coaching B

It's starting to look like 2002 with all of these frantic finishes. The Buckeyes pulled it out Saturday after losing their starting quarterback and being on the bad side of the turnover battle (4-1). Everybody's still flummoxed by all the big plays allowed on defense and special teams, but this could have been last year's Nebraska collapse all over again after Braxton Miller got hurt - and it wasn't. This coaching staff kept the Buckeyes from hanging their heads and kept them battling until the beautiful end.

- Compiled by Jon Spencer

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Ohio State-Purdue report card

Offensive LineB Showing how much faith he has in the front five, Urban Meyer went for it on fourth-and-one from the Purdue 46-yard line in the first quarter ? at the risk of making his shaky defense